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Post by Low Light Mike on Jan 5, 2013 20:17:33 GMT -8
A news blog from a year ago re a local Sointula campaign to get an early morning sailing the tri-island ferry schedule. sointularipple.ca/2011/12/early-ferry-campaign/They still don't have this early morning ferry, except on Sundays. 6 days a week, the first ferry to leave Sointula for Port McNeill is at 7:55am, getting into Port McNeill at 8:20am. That's a late start, by most gulf island ferry standards. The first ferry leaving Alert Bay (where she is home ported) is at 6:40am, and the campaign was for that ferry to call-in at Sointula, on its way to Port McNeill.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Apr 6, 2013 16:47:03 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Apr 11, 2013 19:04:29 GMT -8
Click on this story if you want to see the cake that a Sointula bakery prepared for the QQII's crew, in thanks for the first day of an early morning sailing on their route. - cake has an image of the ferry on it.... sointularipple.ca/2013/04/first-early-ferry-sails-2/
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WettCoast
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Post by WettCoast on Apr 28, 2013 12:12:30 GMT -8
This weeks edition of CBC Radio's The Vinyl Cafe was taped in Powell River, on BC's beautiful Sunshine Coast. The program host, Stuart McLean, always begins each program with a bit of a monologue about the part of Canada that he is visiting. This program was no exception, as Stuart talks about the Sunshine Coast & its ferries. Give it a listen (link to podcast). It is entertaining as is the norm with this program.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Apr 28, 2013 12:27:27 GMT -8
This weeks edition of CBC Radio's The Vinyl Cafe was taped in Powell River, on BC's beautiful Sunshine Coast. The program host, Stuart McLean, always begins each program with a bit of a monologue about the part of Canada that he is visiting. This program was no exception, as Stuart talks about the Sunshine Coast & its ferries. Give it a listen (link to podcast). It is entertaining as is the norm with this program. Jim, you and I are listening to the same thing, at the same time. Good stuff. "You're not 5 minutes late for the ferry. You're 4 hours early."
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SolDuc
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Post by SolDuc on Apr 28, 2013 14:58:57 GMT -8
This weeks edition of CBC Radio's The Vinyl Cafe was taped in Powell River, on BC's beautiful Sunshine Coast. The program host, Stuart McLean, always begins each program with a bit of a monologue about the part of Canada that he is visiting. This program was no exception, as Stuart talks about the Sunshine Coast & its ferries. Give it a listen (link to podcast). It is entertaining as is the norm with this program. Jim, you and I are listening to the same thing, at the same time. Good stuff. "You're not 5 minutes late for the ferry. You're 4 hours early." "and the ferry is late, and then you're driving down highway 101 at 70km/h over the limit and the ferry is cancelled"
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WettCoast
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Post by WettCoast on Apr 28, 2013 15:24:49 GMT -8
quoting Stuart McLean: I believe he was talking about route 3 & the Queen of Surrey.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 25, 2013 19:00:38 GMT -8
I have been vacationing on Quadra Island, near Heriot Bay. Two times this week, including this evening, Tenaka has done an extra round trip at the end of the day, on the Quadra/Cortes route.
Here's BCFS' guideline for doing this:
Earlier this week, the extra cars were on the Cortes side, and it was a near deadhead back from Heriot Bay to Whaletown. (so not much revenue on that extra round trip, because no fares are collected for traffic leaving Cortes).
Tonight, it was approx 11 cars waiting at Heriot Bay, when we drove by on our way to our cabin. So there will be some extra revenue earned for traffic leaving Quadra on this extra trip.
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Over the past 4 days of observing the Tenaka on her route, I've noted that she's frequently 25 minutes behind schedule in the mornings, and seems to catch up by early afternoon. The schedule is odd, with zero turnaround time at Whaletown, and 30 minutes turnaround time allotted at Heriot Bay. My observation is that the delays are caused by the difficult loading of overheight traffic on a ferry with only 1 overheight lane and with 2 terminals with no adequate vehicle staging lanes for sorting traffic, and where fares are collected in the lane just before traffic boards (there is an onshore employee that walks the line collecting fares, at Heriot Bay. But the process is still inefficient).
Traffic was jam packed on Tenaka, per my on-board experience. Narrow lanes, with very close parking combined to make it difficult to exit the vehicle and make your way to the staircase to go to the lounge. My experience on Tachek on this route in summer 2011 was the same. Summer sailings are often very crowded.
Another factor is the industrial traffic that takes up a lot of deck space on this route. On our sailing yesterday, there was a cement tanker truck, a cement pumper truck and a building supplies flatbed truck. That took up most of the centre lane.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 26, 2013 15:23:53 GMT -8
There is a guest column in this week's Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, announcing an "inter island ferry party" which is intended to demonstrate to BCFS the need for better promotion of inter-island travel. link here
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Jul 26, 2013 15:45:27 GMT -8
I have been vacationing on Quadra Island, near Heriot Bay. Two times this week, including this evening, Tenaka has done an extra round trip at the end of the day, on the Quadra/Cortes route. Here's BCFS' guideline for doing this: Earlier this week, the extra cars were on the Cortes side, and it was a near deadhead back from Heriot Bay to Whaletown. (so not much revenue on that extra round trip, because no fares are collected for traffic leaving Cortes). Tonight, it was approx 11 cars waiting at Heriot Bay, when we drove by on our way to our cabin. So there will be some extra revenue earned for traffic leaving Quadra on this extra trip. ------------------ Over the past 4 days of observing the Tenaka on her route, I've noted that she's frequently 25 minutes behind schedule in the mornings, and seems to catch up by early afternoon. The schedule is odd, with zero turnaround time at Whaletown, and 30 minutes turnaround time allotted at Heriot Bay. My observation is that the delays are caused by the difficult loading of overheight traffic on a ferry with only 1 overheight lane and with 2 terminals with no adequate vehicle staging lanes for sorting traffic, and where fares are collected in the lane just before traffic boards (there is an onshore employee that walks the line collecting fares, at Heriot Bay. But the process is still inefficient). Traffic was jam packed on Tenaka, per my on-board experience. Narrow lanes, with very close parking combined to make it difficult to exit the vehicle and make your way to the staircase to go to the lounge. My experience on Tachek on this route in summer 2011 was the same. Summer sailings are often very crowded. Another factor is the industrial traffic that takes up a lot of deck space on this route. On our sailing yesterday, there was a cement tanker truck, a cement pumper truck and a building supplies flatbed truck. That took up most of the centre lane. As I've mentioned before, the situation is even worse at Hornby regarding loading, where the slip is so big that Tenaka sits way off kilter in relation to the ramp. I really like this vessel, but for a good part of the year, it does not serve the communities of Cortes or Hornby very well at all.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Jul 26, 2013 15:50:48 GMT -8
There is a guest column in this week's Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, announcing an "inter island ferry party" which is intended to demonstrate to BCFS the need for better promotion of inter-island travel. link here...which brings up, again, the contrast between BC Ferries' service to the Gulf Islands and WSF's service to the San Juans. I know the comparison isn't entirely appropriate given that Friday Harbor is a fairly good sized town and is also the county seat, but over the years, the schedule on our side of the border has done nothing to allow connections between island communities. Perhaps there's no demand, or perhaps the lack of scheduling has suppressed demand; it's hard to say.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 28, 2013 20:05:14 GMT -8
Bumper sticker seen on Quadra Island, in July 2013. ....this says it all about Gulf / Discovery Islands life.
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Jul 28, 2013 21:05:10 GMT -8
Mr Horn's post, above, made me think about the various jobs I've discussed with a Hornby contractor, and the timeline for getting them done. Being still somewhat of a city person, I'm having to get used to the different island mindset toward such things. Yes, he knows I want a woodstove installed... but the late autumn monsoons haven't arrived yet, so... no rush. Likewise, to finishing the driveway over a culvert he installed, back when it was too wet to complete the work. He's a good, ethical fellow... and I just have to recognize that there is indeed 'Island Time', as opposed to the more urgent urban clock that many of us run by.
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Mayne
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Post by Mayne on Jul 28, 2013 21:40:46 GMT -8
Mr Horn's post, above, made me think about the various jobs I've discussed with a Hornby contractor, and the timeline for getting them done. Being still somewhat of a city person, I'm having to get used to the different island mindset toward such things. Yes, he knows I want a woodstove installed... but the late autumn monsoons haven't arrived yet, so... no rush. Likewise, to finishing the driveway over a culvert he installed, back when it was too wet to complete the work. He's a good, ethical fellow... and I just have to recognize that there is indeed 'Island Time', as opposed to the more urgent urban clock that many of us run by. To follow up on what Neil posted, my father and I decided to do a job for a fellow islander on Mayne it was planed to be done on weekends and no real time line was set out. When we had the job on his house done in three weekends it was unreal, no one thought such a job could be done in such a short period of time. It was to us just a small deck job that should have been done in five days here but on mayne such a job as I am told should take all summer. Life is much more laded back and it gets done when it gets done. Simpler times.
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Post by Mike C on Aug 13, 2013 9:39:03 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 18, 2013 17:31:01 GMT -8
Not ferry related, but a community item from a ferry-dependent island. - the typical car-stop sign on Mayne Island. Car-stop is like a bus-stop network, for hitch-hikers and willing local drivers.
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Mayne
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Post by Mayne on Aug 18, 2013 18:07:04 GMT -8
Not ferry related, but a community item from a ferry-dependent island. - the typical car-stop sign on Mayne Island. Car-stop is like a bus-stop network, for hitch-hikers and willing local drivers. I have actually meant to ask about this, are there car stops like this on any of the other gulf islands?
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 18, 2013 18:20:45 GMT -8
I have actually meant to ask about this, are there car stops like this on any of the other gulf islands? I saw some on Quadra Island, near the Heriot Bay grocery store. - but no rhyming sign on Quadra.
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Post by Mike C on Aug 18, 2013 18:36:11 GMT -8
I have actually meant to ask about this, are there car stops like this on any of the other gulf islands? I believe so. Every island that I've visited in the past three years or so have these - they're basically a substitute for public transit service. The only island I never noticed them on was Saltspring, possibly because they have their own transit system operated by BC Transit, though I might not have been looking closely enough...
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Aug 18, 2013 19:17:15 GMT -8
I believe the Penders may have been the first with the 'car stop' program.
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Post by Ferryman on Aug 18, 2013 20:32:44 GMT -8
Salt Spring has them. I think we've had them for a couple of years now, but only on specific roads. I think they'd be on just about every Gulf Island, since it's the Islands Trust that set up the program
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Post by Low Light Mike on Oct 6, 2013 21:11:09 GMT -8
Link to a photo of the BC Ferry "Quadra Queen II" flying the flag of Finland Finnish flag on ferryWhy? Read this wonderful story in the Sonitula Ripple webpage. - a visiting theatre company from Finland is performing their play "Sointula" at Sointula. Here's the story link
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Post by Ferryman on Oct 7, 2013 19:55:09 GMT -8
Link to a photo of the BC Ferry "Quadra Queen II" flying the flag of Finland Finnish flag on ferryWhy? Read this wonderful story in the Sonitula Ripple webpage. - a visiting theatre company from Finland is performing their play "Sointula" at Sointula. Here's the story link Neat. That could almost be mistaken for a signal flag, as the letter "X". Otherwise meaning, "Stop carrying out your intentions, and wait for my signals".
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Post by BreannaF on Oct 22, 2013 21:17:16 GMT -8
Not ferry related, but a community item from a ferry-dependent island. - the typical car-stop sign on Mayne Island. Car-stop is like a bus-stop network, for hitch-hikers and willing local drivers. I have actually meant to ask about this, are there car stops like this on any of the other gulf islands? There is something like this on San Juan Island. Except the signs are not-at-all so creative. And they have a website HERE.
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SolDuc
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Post by SolDuc on Oct 22, 2013 21:26:44 GMT -8
I have actually meant to ask about this, are there car stops like this on any of the other gulf islands? There is something like this on San Juan Island. Except the signs are not-at-all so creative. And they have a website HERE. Interestingly San Juan Island (and Orcas Island too, for that matter) have that car stops on top of the transit service they already have: sanjuantransit.com/index.html
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